For the first time, 29 municipalities have been given the opportunity to contribute to a detailed portrayal of the political work associated with climate change in collaboration with the Danish Board of Technology Foundation.

The Region acknowledges the many political challenges
Climate adaptions presents a challenge to quite a few municipalities. In order to be better prepared to face them, the Capital Region needs to better understand the challenges and potential solutions faced by the local politicians. At present, the first municipalities have started to report back on which political messages they want passed along.  The conversation will continue at a meeting during the fall, 2016.

A different kind of dialogue on committee meetings

The political negotiations and decisions on climate adjustments are made by the Technique and Environment Committee and that is why the Danish Board of Technology has scheduled a meeting with the politicians seated on this exact committee. The meeting will start off with a short film on some of the issues and political considerations faced by the municipalities of the Capital Region, at present and in the future. After the film, the following questions will form the basis of further conversations on the subject:

• Which local political challenges do you face, in connection to climate change?

• Which of these challenges are you able to solve within the municipality and in collaboration with the supply companies.
• Are there any difficulties which should be solved at a cross-municipal, regional or national level?

The political messages are presented to the Capital Region and the Danish Parliament
Mapping out the region’s local political needs and challenges is a great initiative in itself, but it is rather crucial that the results be presented to someone who is able to take action on the results. This next step will be initiated by a workshop in March 2017 where The Danish Board of Technology Foundation will secure the articulation of common political messages, which will be presented to The Regional Council and relevant committees in Parliament. In addition to this, presentations of this project and its results will be given at various conferences.

The Danish Board of Technology Foundation gives advice on climate adaption
The Danish Board of Technology Foundation has extensive experience on climate adaption and has been involved from the very beginning. For instance, in the early 00’s we helped add climate adaption to the current agenda with our project, “New climate – new life?” which lead to the first national plan for climate adaption in Denmark, amongst other things.

Since then, we have worked on several aspects of the challenges connected to climate adaption, always focusing on engaging the relevant stakeholders and players as a part of our process. For example, we worked on a coastal analysis for The Danish Coastal Authority, during which we had a dialogue with the municipalities who struggled with difficulties such as flood-prone coastlines.

The Danish Capital Region consists of:

Albertslund Municipality
Allerød Municipality
Ballerup Municipality
Bornholm’s regional municipality
Dragør Municipality
Egedal Municipality
Fredensborg Municipality
Frederiksberg Municipality
Frederikssund Municipality
Halsnæs Municipality
Furesø Municipality
Gentofte Municipality
Gladsaxe Municipality
Glostrup Municipality
Gribskov Municipality
Helsingør Municipality
Herlev Municipality
Hillerød Municipality
Hvidovre Municipality
Høje-Taastrup Municipality
Hørsholm Municipality
Ishøj Municipality
Københavns Municipality
Lyngby-Taarbæk Municipality
Rudersdal Municipality
Rødovre Municipality
Tårnby Municipality
Vallensbæk Municipality